Recently I purchased a Scott A3, 9ft, 4wt rod for about $350. I am pretty loyal to Sage and was planning on going with them because I love my Sage FLi 5 wt. The guys at my local fly shop kind of talked me gently into the Scott so I went with that. The third time out it broke on me, snapped about 3 inches from the top while I was casting some very small flies. Needless to say I was pretty miffed.

It has a lifetime warranty which stated that if it broke and I sent it in with $45 they would fix it. But it just didn't seem right to me that I should have to shell out another $45 after having used it three times, and not done anything that I know of to break it (it's not like I ran over it with my car). So I took it back to the shop, Colorado Skies Outfitters in Parker, CO. They told me that, yes, Scott would fix it for the fee, but then told me to leave it with them because they were not ok with this situation either. They said to come back the next day.

When I arrived at the shop the next day, Theo, the owner said that he had called his rep at Scott and they had agreed to waive the $45. In addition, he had already packaged it up for me and addressed it to Scott. He also put his shop's address as the return so that he could "give it a once over" once they sent it back.

So my conlusions are these. I will do all my business with Colorado Skies. They almost acted like it was their responsibility even though they didn't make or break the rod. If you are anywhere in the Denver Metro area I highly recommend these guys, even if it is a slightly longer drive. They are honest, they know their stuff, and their shop is a lot of fun. I also appreciated Scott's willingness to deviate from their "policy," and stand up for their product. Not a lot of company's will do this anymore and although it was only $45, it was $45.

I posted this under tackle talk already, but I wanted to put it here too to get the word out. Incidentally, I have no official affilation with Scott or Colorado Skies. Just thought I would share how they treated me.

Recently I purchased a Scott A3, 9ft, 4wt rod for about $350. I am pretty loyal to Sage and was planning on going with them because I love my Sage FLi 5 wt. The guys at my local fly shop kind of talked me gently into the Scott so I went with that. The third time out it broke on me, snapped about 3 inches from the top while I was casting some very small flies. Needless to say I was pretty miffed.

It has a lifetime warranty which stated that if it broke and I sent it in with $45 they would fix it. But it just didn't seem right to me that I should have to shell out another $45 after having used it three times, and not done anything that I know of to break it (it's not like I ran over it with my car). So I took it back to the shop, Colorado Skies Outfitters in Parker, CO. They told me that, yes, Scott would fix it for the fee, but then told me to leave it with them because they were not ok with this situation either. They said to come back the next day.

When I arrived at the shop the next day, Theo, the owner said that he had called his rep at Scott and they had agreed to waive the $45. In addition, he had already packaged it up for me and addressed it to Scott. He also put his shop's address as the return so that he could "give it a once over" once they sent it back.

So my conlusions are these. I will do all my business with Colorado Skies. They almost acted like it was their responsibility even though they didn't make or break the rod. If you are anywhere in the Denver Metro area I highly recommend these guys, even if it is a slightly longer drive. They are honest, they know their stuff, and their shop is a lot of fun. I also appreciated Scott's willingness to deviate from their "policy," and stand up for their product. Not a lot of company's will do this anymore and although it was only $45, it was $45.

It is always best to try and do business with a local fly shop. Things may be a little higher than from an on-line source but you can't beat their service. It sounds like you have a good shop and I would support them as much as you can.